The Big Sky CODE was established in the Spring of 2011 in an effort to bring together deans from like institutions to provide a voice on national issues, and also for bringing key faculty together from our like institutions to work together, share ideas, and hopefully create an active, intimate network for collegiality, collaboration, and research.
Deans who have been invited to participate are from the following institutions:
Eastern Washington
Idaho State
Minot State University
Montana State University
Northern Arizona University
Northern Colorado University
Portland State Univeristy
Sacramento State
Southern Utah University
University of Montana
University of North Dakota
University of Wyoming
Utah Valley University
Weber State University
The group met officially March 23 as part of the CAEP/TEAC Western Regional Conference. They identified goals and purposes for the group along with some major activities. A meeting schedule has been set and Bylaws and leadership rotation will be adopted at the fall meeting.
- Innovative implementation strategies for program preparation and dissemination
- Having faculty visit with faculty in the same program area at another institution, to get a person look at how programs, courses, curriculum, clinical placements, etc, are done at other places. Assisting with faculty research and publication, how support and encourage faculty, and to provide that opportunity through this group collaboration
- Technology issues, both availability in the classroom and training for faculty, staff and students
- Accommodating students in rural areas and across the region including distance education
- Internationalization of programs
- Leadership training and a forum for discussion of policy and practice at a college management level.
- National Accreditation or creation of a regional program review consortium. Faculty visits to other campuses
- Interaction with Deans of content areas and CCSSO as move forward on district issues.
- One of the major activities decided upon was a Teacher Education Summit, Fall 2011, hosted by Weber State University. Faculty from institutions will meet together to share ideas, curriculum, assessments, policy, research, etc. There are currently four areas which work will be centered around: Assessment, Student Teaching/Field Experience, Literacy, and Numeracy. The next CODE meeting will be held in conjunction with the Summit (Sept 28-30). It is hoped that there will be a yearly program area summit.